Running from Mars
by Aehryn
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki lived on the streets his whole life. Escaping from a government home for orphans, he began to run. That was his sole joy in life until a man named Iruka came in and introduced him to the fragile boy named Sasuke Uchiha. NaruSasu
1. Running from Mars

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**WARNING: IF YOU DO NOT LIKE BOYXBOY RELATIONSHIPS TURN BACK NOW. Otherwise enjoy the one-shot!  
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**Running from Mars**

Naruto Uzumaki's dirty sneakers made loud slapping noises as they came into contact with the firm concreted ground. The tall scrawny teen of thirteen years was running through a neighborhood in the richer parts of town. This was what he did with his life: run.

Unlike most people, Naruto never belonged anywhere. He didn't stay in one place long enough for anywhere to be called home, whatever term you may call it. He might have when he was little, but he couldn't remember. Of course he could recall a man named Jiraiya raising him, but even then they were living on the streets. The government found him eventually and put him in a "home" which was even worse than the streets he grew up on. That was when he discovered the miracle of _running._

At the time an adult had let some kids roam around outside under strict guidance. Breathing in the warm summer air made the boy snap and as soon as the gate to their "home" opened he was running. He was completely underestimated by the adults, he was underfed and barely saw daylight, how far could this kid get? Though, Naruto's newfound talent awakened the beast inside himself and could not stop until it was fully dark.

Ever since then Uzumaki has been a wanderer of some sort. He used the advantage of being a cute sickly kid by going to people's houses for some sympathy. He usually could get a meal and a bath but never would intrude so much as to sleep in someone else's home but as he got older he realized that this trick wouldn't work for much longer.

Naruto was currently sitting outside of a fast food restaurant chewing on some leftovers that someone forgot on the table. His last run was quite far and he was practically starving. His bright blond hair was dyed a more muddy brown color by the dirt, he couldn't remember the last time he had a proper wash. Suddenly a coin was tossed and ricocheted off the blond's forehead. "Buy some proper food, dobe. Get a wash while you're at it."

Naruto's bright blue eyes glared up at the offending figure. It was a boy around his age with dark black hair and an expensive outfit looking down at him with disgust. As soon as they made eye contact though, the other sniffed and walked away. "Bastard." He mumbled.

Having his tranquil mood completely ruined he gulped down the water from his bottle and made sure his sneakers were tight before running off in the direction of a neighborhood. It was a scorching summer day and the sun beat down on the back of his neck; his sweat streaked hair was bobbing in his eyes. He found his fatigued legs hitting the ground harder and harder, tonight he would try to find a kind family to take him in, maybe give him a bath. As he was about to run down the suburban streets he noticed that behind the houses was large woodlands.

The blond looked around to see if anyone was watching and streaked into the woods. He took big gulps of air in, the woods was the most exciting place to run. The terrain was much nicer and good for the impact on his legs. The shade chilled the sweat that ran down his body, his pace picked up cheerily. His thoughts began to wonder in and out, almost like he was sleeping while running. Naruto never really thought about his future, he didn't realize that he couldn't run forever. He wasn't _stupid_ but he sure wasn't as educated as most boys his age.

Naruto barely noticed that instead of the shelter of the woods he was now in someone's back yard. A shout came from someone nearby catching the runner off guard sending him tumbling forward onto the grass. "Oh, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm sorry, I was running and I completely forgot about where I was!" Naruto's face flushed in embarrassment, looking up at the older man. The man had long brown hair that was swept up in a pony tail, there was a long scar spreading across his cheeks going a long his nose.

"Don't worry about it, as long as you aren't hurt. My name is Iruka Umino, why not come in the house for a bit to cool off?" The stranger asked, he had a look of worry on his face.

"Oh, thank you! Well, my name is Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto explained as he was led into the man's house. He sat carefully on a couch, the house was very neat and nothing was out of place.

"I'll go get you a glass of cold water for you. Feel free to turn the television on, I'll be right back!" Iruka called out as he made his way for the kitchen. Naruto happily took the remote from the coffee table and pressed the power button. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen a show. He was quickly enthralled by a soap opera.

"Here you go, Naruto." Iruka took a seat on a loveseat diagonally placed from the couch Naruto was sitting on. "I've never seen you around here before, are you new?"

"Uhm, I'm not from here really…" The blond tried to think of something to say, in all of his years he was never really asked personal questions, yet he found himself responding truthfully to them and told him everything.

"Wow, what a story!" This made Naruto's stomach drop, had he thought he made it up? "Well, why don't you stay with me until we can figure out what to do?"

Naruto was at a loss for words, never had someone been kind enough to let him stay the night. This man, practically a stranger, was offering a place to stay or a temporary home. It was an offer to completely alter his entire lifestyle which he lived in most of his life. Anyone else probably would have jumped right up and said yes to this offer but he was hesitant. Would he like having somewhere to belong to? His life _was_ lonely, but there was a sort of comfort in his freedom.

"It's okay. You don't have to decide now. Just stay as long as you wish to until you decide." Iruka stated, apparently sensing the teen's indecision.

Tears, of gratitude, welled up in Naruto's eyes, "Thank you!" Unsure of what to do with this emotion he ran to the older man and threw his arms around him. He's never really given a hug to anyone before, he knew what it was but never was close enough with another person to do this. It was nice and warm, he felt protected.

"No, no! It's fine with me if you stay, I could use a little company around the house." Iruka smiled warmly and patted the boy on the back. "Now, let's make you at home! First, you'll need a bath, I'll go run the water real quick and set out a towel." Iruka quickly scurried off leaving the teen in the living room.

Naruto wandered around a little anxiously. There were all sorts of things in this house that he had no idea what was used for. He felt increasingly ignorant by his lack of knowledge. There was a strange machine on top of a table in a corner. It seemed extremely complicated with the different cords that ran from the back into another machine which had a smooth shiny surface that was now spitting out images across the screen every few seconds. He sat down on the chair in front of the table but as soon as his body made contact with it the chair slid back a few feet. "Whoa."

He used his feet to propel himself around the whole room, an amused expression on his face. He must have spun around the room ten more times after that when he heard laughter from behind him. "What are you doing?" Iruka asked, he came into the room to this odd sight but instead of getting angry like Naruto anticipated, he found it funny.

"Uh…How does it do that, Iruka?! I tried to sit on it and it _moved!"_

"It's just a chair that moves on wheels, look at the bottom of it," Iruka pointed at the wheels that caused the seat to slide around. Naruto's mouth turned into a surprised 'o' shape. "I'll show you where the bathroom is, there's everything you need in there."

Naruto was left in the bathroom, steam was surrounding the bath. He eagerly stripped off all his clothes and hopped into the tub. This was his first bath in a LONG time. The teen grew embarrassed at the dirt floating around in the tub. Without hesitation he dunked his head into the tub running his hands through his hair. Half an hour later after discovering the shampoo and soap and what they were for, there was a knock on the door. "Naruto, it's Iruka. I'm leaving some clothes outside the door for you when you're done."

Iruka hurriedly heated up some warm chicken noodle soup for the both of them. "Iruka, I'm not sure what to do with the water in there..." Naruto was there in the doorway wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a blue t-shirt, definitely an improvement from what he usually wore.

"It's okay, Naruto. I'll take care of that later. Do you like chicken noodle soup?"

Naruto's stomach growled, and he nodded eagerly. "I love that stuff!"

Iruka smiled and scooped some of the food into two bowls. "Here you go! Come sit down."

Naruto obeyed and sat down at the long table, Iruka took a seat across from him. "I hope you don't mind your clothes, I borrowed them from a neighbor's son. I'm surprised he found such normal clothes. I think we'll go out tomorrow to buy some new clothes."

The blond wasn't really sure of what to say so he simply smiled politely and nodded while slurping down his soup.

"Uhm, Naruto…I hope you don't mind but my…uh friend Kakashi invited me over to his house tomorrow. I already called him while you were taking a bath and he said it would be fine if you come along."

"Oh, I don't mind!" In fact Naruto was really eager to meet new people.

"Great, then we'll go over after we're done shopping! Sasuke will be there too so you'll have someone to hang out with!"

After they ate dinner Iruka made up Naruto a bed in a spare room for him to sleep in. Naruto was exhausted after his exciting day and immediately crashed onto the bed and immediately fell asleep. The next day Iruka woke him back up and made him eat a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, and hash browns.

The two of them spent most of the rest of their morning in the local mall buying different outfits. Naruto tried to get mostly bright orange or yellow shirts but Iruka scolded him forcing him to try on a variety of different clothes. After they bought their clothes they made their way to Kakashi's house.

The house wasn't that far from their own, it was a little bigger but not by much. "We're here, Naruto." The two got out of the car and made their way up to the house. Naruto was bouncing on his heals nervously. The door opened quickly and a silver haired man was standing in the doorway.

"Hello, Iruka! Oh, this must be Naruto! My name is Kakashi Hatake, nice to meet you." The man was nice but his voice sounded as if he was bored.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," The blond stated awkwardly, he took a step inside his house and his eyes wandered trying to find this person named 'Sasuke'.

"Sasuke's room is upstairs. It's the first door on the right." Kakashi said as if he could read the young boy's thought and guided him to a set of stairs.

Naruto slowly made his way up the stairs and to the door. There was a sign on the door that said: Knock first. Complying with the command he raised a fist and knocked on the door three times. He could hear something faint coming from the room but there was no answer. The blond figured the other wouldn't mind him coming in so he opened the door and stepped through.

The room was painted a deep navy blue with lots of posters scattering the wall. There were several cigarette packs laying on the floor, this Naruto noted with great disgust. The room was no where as neat as Iruka's house and the smell of smoke lingered in the air. There was in a sense a lot to take in from the room causing him not to notice the fragile boy on the bed.

At first he thought it was just a lump, something left underneath the comforter forgotten, but then he could see it rise and fall rhythmically. The boy looked so small on the bed, his knees curled into his chest. There was some sort of device attached to a cord protruding from his ear; he had the feeling that that was the source of the faint noise. The boy had dark black hair with a tint of blue in his long bangs. His clothes were all black, his pants tighter than most teens Naruto saw. His shirt rode up showing the contrast of his pale skin.

Naruto quickly snapped out of his daze that somehow he got into when he entered the room. He cleared his throat loudly, hoping this would make his presence known. It worked and the dark boy jumped and quickly sat up. "Who are you?" The words were spat out fast.

"I-I'm Naruto Uzumaki…" Naruto's voice trembled and stumbled over the simple phrase. He could feel the other's dark eyes staring holes into him. He quickly looked away, shifting his weight back and forth between his legs.

"Hn. You're that disgusting boy from before aren't you?" Sasuke's voice was filled with annoyance. Naruto was startled and was tempted to just run out the door right now, but he swallowed the idea and turned the feeling into anger.

"Shut up! I'm not a 'disgusting boy'! I'm staying with Iruka. You're the one that's disgusting with all those nasty cigarette packs lying around your room!" Naruto stomped his foot, only realizing until after he did so that it was childish.

"Hn." Sasuke was now sitting on the very edge of the bed with his feet hitting the floor staring up at the blond with a very bored expression.

"Aren't you even going to introduce yourself?"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"…"

"That's my name, stupid." This was followed by a shriek and another childish stomp.

"I know that! You're so annoying!" Naruto screeched causing the other to wince. Sasuke just smirked as if he took some sort of pleasure in angering him…which Naruto had no doubt that he did. The teen on the bed took out a strange looking device from beside him that was connected the cords that ran into his ears. This intrigued the blond and he found himself next to the other on the bed trying to get a peak as to what it was.

"Do you mind breathing on me like that, idiot?" Sasuke gave the annoying blond a glare that could kill before he went back to fidgeting with the device.

"What is it?" Naruto asked curiously, moving his hand towards the device to poke it once. His hand was immediately slapped away by the other boy.

"It's an mp3 player, stupid. Haven't you ever seen one?" Sasuke stared at the other as if he was nuts. Naruto's cheeks flushed in embarrassment and shook his head. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and took out the plug-like looking things in his ears. "These are earphones…Put them in your ears."

The blond hesitantly took the earphones into his hands unsure about what it was supposed to do. "You're completely clueless aren't you?" Sasuke huffed and grabbed the earphones again and forced Naruto to face him and placed the earpieces in.

Naruto jumped as something loud blasted into his ears. There were all sorts of instruments playing in his ears before an angry sounding man started screaming. The blond's eyes widened and he turned his head to stare at the other in shock. "It's music!" Soon the amazement wore off and a new song came on, this time it was in some sort of language that he didn't know. "What are they saying?"

Sasuke smirked and leaned back on, still looking through his mp3 player, "It's Japanese."

"It's catchy!" The blond exclaimed, he was nearly bouncing on the bed in excitement. "I want one of these!" He could have sworn that soon he would explode from the beat of the music and soon the mp3 player was ripped out of the smaller boy's hands into the blond's who was now moving around the room in a whirl.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, stupid?" Sasuke asked as he watched the other, he supposed, dance around his room. This was something completely foreign to the fragile boy. The blond was twirling around his room with the earphones twisting in tangles, though he didn't seem to care. Sasuke almost felt embarrassed for the naïve boy; though he almost laughed as the blond started flinging himself around but he caught himself just in time.

"I'm dancing!" Naruto exclaimed carelessly as the music continued to stream into his ears and mind. He wasn't exactly sure _how_ to dance but he figured that it was something like this, moving your body carelessly. Sasuke didn't stop him, though he knew that he should to keep the idiot from breaking his expensive music player that was basically his life. There was something enthralling about the boy's energy. "Come on, Sasuke!" And at that moment, Sasuke really would have if at that moment Naruto didn't lose his balance.

In fact, Naruto didn't just lose his balance any old place it was directly in front of Sasuke. Of course the blond couldn't help where he landed, but that didn't stop the Uchiha from blaming him for the "kiss" that his clumsiness had ensued. Before either of them knew it, the moody teen had a weight pressing above him with lips on his face. Sasuke wouldn't really have called it a _kiss_.

Naruto's lips collided with the corner of Sasuke's causing a red blush to appear on the blond's face. Suddenly the door opened and the blond slipped off the smaller teen and fell onto the floor, music still pumping into his ears. "Naruto are you ready to go back home?" Without hesitation Naruto nodded and left without a word to Sasuke, leaving him stunned and confused.

A month later from that day and Naruto hadn't seen Sasuke since that embarrassing incident. He was awakened by Iruka getting ready for work. The past month with Iruka went by fast, the blond learned a lot since he's been with him. He found out that the device that he found when he first came was called a 'computer'. Though, his new guardian still was lost as to how to get the blond an education without him getting taken away by the government.

Iruka came into his bedroom, he was currently dressed up in a black suit. "I have a conference today; do you want to stay with Kakashi today? It's a weekend so he should be home."

"I'll be fine here," He insured the older man as he jumped out of bed and ran to the closet to find clothing. He pulled out a pair of black athletic shorts and an orange t-shirt.

"Okay, well I'm leaving now. Be careful around the house and don't open the door to anyone!" Iruka always made sure to instruct how to be safe to Naruto, who had to admit that he got annoying after the first couple times. After the brunette left, Naruto got dressed not bothering with freshening up his hair. He decided today he was going to run, something that he hasn't done since he didn't have anywhere to call home.

Naruto got on the sneakers that Iruka bought him and walked out the door. It was now the beginning of fall but the weather didn't really cool down that much. Feeling slightly guilty that he was breaking one of Iruka's rules, he began to run.

He wasn't exactly sure where he was going until he saw Kakashi's house coming into view. There was someone, unrecognizable from the distance, sprawled on the front yard carelessly. The blond's pace picked up until he could tell that the strange figure was none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

Despite the heat, Sasuke wore his usual black pants but the shirt was dark blue with some sort of logo on it. He was too busy reading a large book that he held eagerly in his hands, his eyes devouring the words on the page. To Naruto's surprise the other had a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, he would have said that the Uchiha looked rather intelligent if he hadn't noticed the cigarette hanging from his mouth.

Naruto approached the other and tried to get a peak at what he was reading. When Sasuke felt the tall boy peering over him he looked up with an angry look on his face, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and puffing smoke in his face. "What are you doing here?"

"I was running," Naruto replied lamely, he wiped the built up sweat that was threatening to fall in his eyes.

"Obviously..." Sasuke sneered. He then went back to reading his book completely ignoring the presence of the other. Naruto sighed resignedly and sat on the grass next to the other.

"What are you reading?" Naruto knew that the smaller teen wouldn't appreciate him asking questions, but he found himself ignoring it due to his curiousity.

Sasuke just sighed and shoved the cover of the book in Naruto's face deciding to avoid speaking. This only caused Naruto to give him a blank stare. "Oh come on, you can't be that stupid. You can read, can't you?" Sasuke asked harshly. When Naruto didn't say anything and looked away he sighed. "It's Great Expectations by Charles Dickens."

"Oh. That's cool, I guess. Though, I could never read it because I never learned how to read real well…" The blond didn't elaborate, thinking that the other didn't want to hear his whole life story.

"How have you never learned to read?" Sasuke asked, his curiosity was sparked by this.

"Uh, it's a long story…" Naruto tried to avoid telling it, since he was afraid it would make him more 'disgusting' in Sasuke's eyes.

"Look at the book I'm reading now, stupid. I think I can handle your 'long story'."

"Oh, uh okay…" Naruto then began telling the other about his whole life up to where Iruka took him in. "So, I can talk…Obviously, but I can't read or write very well. Are books that interesting?"

Sasuke stared at the blond for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Yes."

"Hey, how 'bout you teach me?! You must be really good since you read books like this!" The prospect of this idea excited him to no end, the blond found himself up on his feet and bouncing around.

"Idiot, it's not that easy to teach someone to read. It'll take a long time to get it, especially if it's someone like you," Sasuke may have said it rudely and harshly, but he didn't think it was such a bad idea. He would be dealing with something he loved to do anyways.

"Oh...So you won't teach me then?" Naruto pouted.

Sasuke huffed, knowing he was getting sucked into this. "No. I won't."

"Oh…" The blond looked down, his pout not leaving his face. "Well, how 'bout you read to me then if you can't teach me how to read?"

"Tch. Fine, if it will make you shut up."

That is how Sasuke Uchiha found himself, for the next couple months into winter, reading to the blond and teaching him how to read and write most of the days of the week. The two had become close, even though they wouldn't have noticed. The Uchiha continued to call the other stupid and other insults but that didn't obstruct the close bond they grew.

Naruto was waiting for Sasuke to get back from school so he could finish reading their latest novel, in other words Sasuke reading it aloud. The small boy finally came into the room, his cheeks red from being out in the cold. He dropped his school uniform blazer and tie on the floor before dropping onto the bed next to the blond.

Sasuke took a pack of cigarettes from the drawer next to his bed and lit one before inhaling. "Why are you here?" He didn't really need to ask that question, of course the blond came to read. He was used to the blond running all day and coming back to Kakashi's house to shower and read with him.

"I want to read! Except, I want to read to you instead of you just reading!"

"Fine," Sasuke resigned and brought down a shorter novel and tossed it to the blond. "Here, I already read it but I'll listen. You can keep it." This made Naruto extremely excited and he jumped up and embraced the smaller teen in a hug.

"Thank you!" Naruto shrieked. Sasuke tore away from the embrace glaring up at the blond. "Oh, dude Iruka told me that you can sleep over at my house tonight if you want."

Sasuke became stiff and took an extra long drag from his cigarette. "I can't."

"Kakashi said it was alright this morning! You can!" Naruto pouted and sat back down on the bed with the book in his hand. He lay back stair up at the ceiling.

"No, I _can't,_ idiot. I don't live here, Kakashi isn't my "dad" or "guardian" or whatever the hell you call it." Sasuke huffed out a ring of smoke before sitting in the hard wood chair that was in front of his computer desk.

"What do you mean you don't live here? You're ALWAYS here. Sakura-chan even comes here for you…If this isn't your home then where is it?!"

"Yeah, well…I don't "live" here. I live with a man named Orochimaru." Sasuke said, facing the wall in front of the desk.

"No way…" This was news to Sasuke, he knew him and Kakashi had different last names but he always assumed they lived with each other. "What about this room?"

Sasuke glared at the blond, he didn't know why but those inquiring blue eyes made him spill out his whole life from his lips when he never even told Kakashi, the closest to a father figure he had. "This was just a spare room when Kakashi found me. I met him and he knew Orochimaru so he made this room for me."

"Wait, _why?_ Why would you need to stay with Kakashi so much if you had a home?"

"I wouldn't call it my home…I come here to avoid Orochimaru, though he thinks I'm partaking in Student Council after school everyday and in the evenings with Sakura, my fake girlfriend." Sasuke explained, there were often pauses where he inhaled from his cigarette.

"Sakura-chan's not your real girlfriend!?"

"She's not. I grew up with her in school and when I was adopted by Orochimaru and discovered how revolting it was to live with him she agreed to help me get out of the house. She became my "girlfriend" in Orochimaru's eyes. Though at school I'm known as 'The Fag', so obviously they don't think she's my girlfriend."

"A fag?"

"I'm gay, Naruto. Homosexual, I like _boys_ not girls, though adults tell me all the time that I can't possibly know this already."

Naruto's mouth gaped open, unsure of what to say to this. Honestly, he never really had time to think about being attracted to people even though he knew that since the first time he met Sasuke there was something there that _did _attract him. He decided to go on.

"What did Orochimaru do that makes you want to leave all the time?"

"What the hell is this, an interview? I'm done answering your questions." Sasuke turned around to send the blond a glare, before lighting another cigarette. Naruto took the hint that this was something that the Uchiha didn't really want to talk about so he just went back to staring at the ceiling.

"Are you going to read or not?"

The blond opened his mouth but just glared at the other before beginning to read from the book. Soon Sasuke grew annoyed at the hesitations and stumbling over words that he moved behind the blond to peer over his shoulder to correct him. Occasionally Naruto would hesitate, feeling the breath of the other on his shoulder and his face would turn red. He hoped and prayed that the smaller boy didn't notice anything, like his beating heart or his flushed face. After a while of stuttering and stumbling Sasuke took the book from the blond's hands and began reading it himself aloud.

Naruto stayed at Kakashi's house through dinner up till the sky fell with darkness. "Hey, Naruto I'm going to drop Sasuke off so I'll drop you off afterwards if that's alright." Actually, he was more than okay with it, he was excited to see the house that made the usually stoic teen avoid and tense.

The house they dropped Sasuke off at wasn't out of the ordinary. It was big, but it wasn't odd for a rich neighborhood. Naruto couldn't see who opened the door; the person was hidden by shadow. Sasuke gave one last look longingly at the car before disappearing in the house's darkness.

"Kakashi, what happened to Sasuke's parents?" Naruto asked curiously, thinking he deserved to know since Sasuke was his friend.

"When Sasuke was eight years old, his older brother Itachi Uchiha killed his entire family. Sasuke saw it with his own eyes. That's why he is how he is. He was put in the care of Orochimaru. I have no doubt that Itachi and Orochimaru are acquainted, I'm not sure how, but I do know that it's no coincident that Sasuke was adopted by him. Though, until I can prove anything by affording a better lawyer than he has, the only thing I can do is help him." Kakashi's face was grave, telling Naruto that he shouldn't question anymore.

A couple days later Naruto decided to run to meet Sasuke at his school. It seemed like a good idea at the time but he didn't realize what this would do to Sasuke's reputation. He ran all the way to the huge school and waited for the bell to ring. He could see Sasuke walking down the courtyard, obviously he wasn't seen yet. Other kids stayed away from him send glares, some kids brushed past him harshly though Sasuke didn't utter a word.

Naruto waved to his friend, his face splitting into a grin. "SASUKE! OVER HERE!" He screamed. Sasuke quickly made his way over, his cheeks were red but Naruto guessed it was because of the cold. "Hey, I decided to come over today instead of waiting."

"You shouldn't have," Sasuke said and he would have said more if a boy a little older than him hadn't shoved him on the ground and spat out rude words that had something to do with 'fag, boyfriend' but he learned not to listen to them.

Naruto gasped and tried to help him up but the raven refused. "Let's just go." He said and walked off leaving the blond behind to catch up.

"Sasuke, why would they do that?" Naruto asked but the Uchiha would just refuse to talk, his eyes downcast towards the ground. "Sasuke, tell me! Why do they do stuff like that?!"

Sasuke growled and grabbed Naruto's upper arm and spun him around until they were face to face. His arm went around the taller teen's neck bringing him down to his height before resting his forehead against the blond's. "Because I want this."

Just those words made the blond want to faint and his heart pump, it wasn't a love confession and no romantic kiss came after it like in those movies that Iruka bought him. It was just those words and puffs of breath that smelled faintly of cigarettes and mint against his face, warm against the cold air. Sasuke made no move to back away, his eyes not relenting from staring into the deep blues of Naruto's. The blond's eyes were darting around, his breathing coming out in short gasps of anticipation but nothing came.

It was the hand that slipped underneath his shirt that broke Naruto out of his trance. He backed away letting out a long breath. His knees shook, not quite comprehending what happened. "Let's go back, do you want to finish our book tonight?"

For once, that was the last thing that Naruto wanted to do. "Uh…No, let's watch a movie at my house..."

"Okay. You can choose the movie," Sasuke replied walking on with his hands in his pocket as if nothing happened.

Naruto popped in a movie in the DVD player and sat on the couch. Sasuke excused himself for the bathroom, forgetting about the cigarette pack and lighter he left on the coffee table. The blond put a bag of popcorn in the microwave to heat up when he came back out into the living room he noticed the cigarettes on the table. Curiously he took one out of the pack and lit it. By the time he inhaled Sasuke came back with a furious expression on his face. "Idiot, don't smoke. You'll get in trouble, these cause cancer. Are you stupid?"

Naruto shrieked, "What?! You smoke them all the time!"

"That's different." Sasuke simply said and took the cigarette out of Naruto's hands and put it in his mouth. "Plus, it will damage your running."

"Really? Oh, hey you should come running with me sometime! It'd be fun!"

"No way."

"Why not?! How about this: the day one of us have to leave town, you'll run with me."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"So you'll do it?"

"…Yeah."

Things turned back to normal after that, though Naruto never met Sasuke at school again. He became more aware about subtle brushings of the hand made by the Uchiha, but he didn't mind it other than the irregular heart beats that came afterwards.

It was spring and the two boys were virtually inseparable from each other, but one day everything changed and that promise they made found itself happening faster than they thought. Naruto was watching a cartoon on T.V. when the front door bell rang. Iruka was the one who opened the door, the blond figured it was one of his coworkers so he just turned up the volume on the T.V. "Naruto, come here!" Iruka screamed.

Standing at the door was a tall man with long white hair that was pulled back. "Jiraiya?! What are you doing here?!" Naruto shrieked.

"I came to take you back, I found a woman inside the government who can help us." Jiraiya said as he leaned against the doorway. "Can I come in?"

Iruka nodded, completely confused as to what was going on. The three sat down in the living room. "Naruto, who is this?"

"This is Jiraiya, I told you about him. He raised me when I was on the streets."

"So, Jiraiya how did you find Naruto here? And who is this woman?"

Jiraiya cleared his throat before telling his story, "Well, a couple years after Naruto was taken away I became an author." This caused a gasp to erupt from the blond. "Yes, I created a series of…books. They actually became quite popular and soon enough I had a house and could afford the things that years before I couldn't. So then I decided to find a way to allow Naruto back into 'society' without the interference of the government. I met with a woman by the name of Tsunade who'll be able to help us."

This caused an eruption of excitement between all three of them. "You mean soon I'll be able to go to school with everyone else?! I can live with Iruka?" This made Jiraiya somewhat disappointed but nevertheless he nodded.

"Though, you'll have to come with me for a while. I don't know how long it will be, maybe a year. Then once we have it straightened out I'll bring you back to Iruka!"

"Jiraiya, I know you've already done so much but could you do me a favor when we get done with this? There's this boy who lives with a man who assisted in murder, but his lawyers are in on it too, since you're rich now can you pay for a great lawyer for them?"

Jiraiya thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Of course, by the time my next book is released they'll be in court. I promise." Naruto squealed and hugged the older man. Now it was just a matter of telling Sasuke.

Naruto put off telling him for a week before he knew he couldn't avoid it any longer, Jiraiya was leaving on Sunday. So he went to Kakashi's house on Friday, but this time he didn't run. When Sasuke entered the room and saw his friend's grave face he just waited for the blond to explain himself.

"Sasuke, I'm leaving." Naruto said simply, waiting for the other's reaction. He expected a glare or maybe even an 'hn' but the raven just remained silent and got up and left the room. Completely confused he decided to just wait for Sasuke to come back. While he was waiting he snatched the other teen's mp3 player off the desk and put the earphones in his ears. He soon fell asleep with Sasuke's music playing in his ears.

Naruto woke up, something was running through his hair. He groggily looked up and saw Sasuke sitting with his back to him while his fingers were combing. "S-sasuke?" The blond asked as he started to yawn. There was no response, the hand retreated back to the Uchiha's lap. "I'm sorry, but I have to. I'll be back though. Jiraiya is taking me to see a government worker who might help. We're leaving on Sunday." Sasuke visibly flinched at the news.

"When are we running?" Sasuke asked, his voice was emotionless and vague.

"Let's go Sunday morning before Jiraiya picks me up. We'll wake up before Iruka, you can sneak out." Naruto sat up and gently pressed a hand into Sasuke's back. Something had been building up more and more as the leaving day approached and suddenly he knew what it was.

Sasuke let out a gasp as he felt arms wrapping around his waist and was pulled back into the other's chest. "I like you, Sasuke. A lot and I'll miss you so much!" He was going to say 'love' but he didn't quite know if that was the word to describe the feeling yet. Soon he was choked up and his breathing came out raggedly as tears streamed down his face.

"You're such an idiot, why are you crying? You're not the one getting left behind." Sasuke hissed.

"What? I'm not leaving you. I'm coming back, you…you…poop face!" The lack of offending insult made Sasuke's shoulders shake in a small laugh. "Hey, stop laughing at me! That's the only comeback I could find," Naruto choked out, still crying.

Their last two days together were peaceful, a lot of the time it was just Naruto watching Sasuke read. The night before Sunday they promised to meet up at five-thirty in the morning at the nearby park. They were both dressed in shorts and a t-shirt when they met up, the sun hadn't started to peak out of the clouds yet. "Let's go."

With those two words the two were running. Naruto slowed down for Sasuke. It was a silent run other than their pounding feet on the sidewalk and their panting breaths. The blond led the other into the woods that led up to Iruka's backyard but instead of heading into the yard they turned and ended up in a large farmer's field. "Where are we?" Sasuke panted as they came to a stop. The sun was coming up and the sky turned a pinkish purple color.

Sasuke collapsed on his back and stared up, Naruto was about to tell him to get up or he would have a heart attack but then he looked up and did the same thing. "Sasuke, I'll have to go soon." Naruto subtly found Sasuke's hand with his own and intertwined their fingers.

"I know." Sasuke unconsciously squeezed the blond's hand tightly, the two just laying there in quiet.

Once the sun came back out completely, the two made their way back to Iruka's house. Jiraiya was already waiting when they got back. A car was parked in front of the house and Iruka came out with several suitcases. Surprisingly Kakashi showed up too to say goodbye to the blond.

"Come on, Naruto. I want to get back by eight this evening. We need to hurry!" Jiraiya yelled out of the driver's seat of the car.

Naruto quickly hugged Iruka and Kakashi. "Thank you so much for everything. I'll see you again!" When he got to Sasuke he hesitated before pulling the shorter teen in for a hug.

Sasuke's grip tightened on the blond, his fingers digging into his shirt. When Naruto pulled away and was about to go into the car, a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. "Naruto, this is yours." The raven handed him the mp3 player. "It still has all those songs you used to listen to."

"But Sasuke this is yours."

"Not anymore." Sasuke said and he shoved the device into the blond's hand before carelessly hugging the other again. "I love you, Naruto."

Once more, Naruto felt as if put under a trance and simply muttered something before jumping in the car with his face lit up red. Sasuke stared at the retreating car before he heard a scream come his way from that familiar annoying voice. "I swear to God, that I _WILL _come back and take you away from that creep Orochimaru!" With that Naruto Uzumaki left Sasuke's neighborhood. Of course, he had no doubt that the crazy teen that changed his life would be back.

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**Oh…my…Gosh. The ending was HORRIBLE. Well, I've been working on this story since 10 in the morning and it's now 1:40…Just so that I could keep my promise that this would be out on Friday. I worked so hard on this one-shot. The ending is not what I wanted it to be, at all. I got this idea when I was outside thinking about Summer running, and I decided: Hey, why don't I just **_**right **_**a fanfiction about someone who runs? Well, so I did. I hope you enjoyed it! There are probably A LOT of unanswered questions though in the story. Feel free to ask, because I know I did. Like: How is Naruto going to charge that mp3 player? Answer: Jiraiya is rich, he'll buy him a charger. **

**How come Naruto didn't get shin splints and stress fractures for running so much? I don't know…Kyuubi healed him, hah as if that makes sense.**

**It was very tempting to turn this into a chapter story, but I have other stories to worry about. Though, if you really want I could try. Haha, when I first tried making this the title was: To Run With an Idiot, I was so annoyed that day I guess.  
**

**Well anyways, thank you for reading!**

**Please leave a review! Criticisms welcome!**


	2. Running to Safety

**A/N: Okay, hello! I decided to put up another chapter. It's late right now, but I won't be home for awhile so I needed to get this out while I can. This is an extremely short chapter, only 4 pages which I usually try to get in 13, which just is not happening for this chapter, plus where it ended it off I felt it would be a good place to leave.**

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any of it's characters. It is purely a FANfiction.

**I hope you all enjoy it though! This is the second chapter to Running from Mars!**

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Running from Mars

Chapter 2

Running to Safety

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Sasuke was listening to the thudding of falling feet as he sat on the bleachers near the track. He did this every time he received a letter from his old friend. He'd come up to watch the Junior High's track team practice imagining Naruto was apart of the team. The letter was clutched in his hand while his other held a book in front of his face. His brain didn't process the words he "read", he was too busy thinking about the new letter and thinking about the blond. It had been about three months since Naruto left and the school year was almost over.

The Uchiha finally gave up and resigned to actually watching the track team. Of course leading the work out was Neji Hyuuga, the most popular boy in school even though he was only in seventh grade. Sasuke would have been jealous if he didn't realize that it wasn't even possible for him to get better than the other. The fact that more than half the school knew him as a fag confirmed it to the boy.

A hand was suddenly in his, pulling the crumpled letter out of the boy's grip. "What have we got here Uchiha?" A sneering voice came from behind him. Sasuke looked back and saw a taller boy with short brown hair who obviously dropped back in track to observe him, Kiba Inuzuka. Kiba nudged the shorter boy with his foot sharply, "Eh?"

Sasuke stubbornly refused to respond and simply glared up at the boy. Kiba was unaffected by the glare and proceeded to unfold the letter. As his eyes scanned the page his lips formed into a smirk. "How sweet, Uchiha. I wonder what everyone else will think about this when I show it to them. What do you think?" He jeered, waving the letter in Sasuke's face. Sasuke made a snatch for it but Kiba was too quick and was already running down the bleachers to meet up with the rest of the team.

The young Uchiha sighed dejectedly and simply lied down on the bleacher's bench staring up at the cloudy sky. A sudden bolt of lightning lit up the sky causing the brunette to launch up into a sitting position. Rain drops soon followed and soon the boy found himself drenched, though he welcomed it. He slipped his book under his shirt, ignoring the awkward bump that formed. Lightning lit up the sky periodically, though Sasuke did not get up to leave.

Suddenly the rain stopped; well at least it stopped pouring over Sasuke's head. He looked up and saw an umbrella being hovered over him. "Uchiha, you know there are numerous things that could go wrong sitting in a storm?" The voice was familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Soon the person the voice belonged to walked out in front of Sasuke. It was Neji.

Sasuke merely shrugged and got up and started to walk away completely ignoring the long haired boy. "Wait, I'm not done talking to you yet." Neji ran back down the bleachers to catch up to him. Soon the Uchiha was spun around and was facing him. A crumpled piece of paper was placed in his hand. "Kiba took this from you, right? I'm here to give it back."

Sasuke stared up at Neji amazed before stuffing the letter in his pocket so it wouldn't get wet. "Uh, thanks?"

"It's not a problem. Kiba can be a real asshole."

"You think?" Sasuke asked moodily and walked off again leaving Neji behind. Halfway home the rain stopped, not like it mattered to the boy since he was already drenched. Kakashi worked at the school late which forced Sasuke to head straight home.

When the Uchiha got there he noticed an unfamiliar fancy black car parked on the side of the road at his house. Sasuke held his breath as he walked into the house after discarding his soaked sneakers on the porch. He walked in expecting to hear the noise of drunken men "socializing" in the living room. Instead there was a strict woman's voice. He decided that his guardian wouldn't appreciate if his ward walked in on the meeting soaked so he silently walked up the flight of stairs into his room to change.

Sasuke splayed himself out on his bed rereading over the letter Naruto sent. He was reading it a third time when there was an obscene curse from below. Deciding to make sure everything was alright, Sasuke walked downstairs into the living room. Seated on the loveseat was a calm yet stern look woman with long dark brown hair, her eyes a piercing red. She was obviously rich by her business suit and her appearance altogether. Orochimaru sat on the couch opposite of her next to the gray haired Kabuto.

"Ah, Sasuke I would like you to meet Yuhi Kurenai from Konoha Law Firm." Orochimaru said in his usual smooth voice, though Sasuke saw a glint in the man's eyes telling him that despite the calm outside he was seething on the inside. The long haired man crossed his legs leaning back closing his eyes.

"You must be Sasuke Uchiha, correct? It's nice to meet you of course, but really I need to get back to the office." Kurenai got up and smoothed out the creases in her expensive outfit before shaking hands with all three of the others. "Expect to see me back. Soon," She added with a firm handshake to Orochimaru.

Throughout the time that Naruto was gone, Sasuke had no doubt that he would keep the promise of taking him away from Orochimaru. However, when the time came he was sure that the blond would be standing next to him. So now the lawyer did come as promised, but there was no one standing next to him except the very man he was trying to get away from.

Sasuke hurried away from the living room trying to get as far away from the men as he could. Before he could reach the stairs a pair of hands pushed him flat onto his face. In a panic he turned around trying to crawl backwards up the stairs. There was a flash of silver before he felt an unwelcomed weight on top of him.

"How dare you." A rough voice called out, belonging to Kabuto, Orochimaru's partner. "What a sneaky little brat you are. Trying to run away by hiring a lawyer, where'd you get the money?" The voice hissed in his ear.

Sasuke squirmed hearing a noise that sounding like a knife running along something. Suddenly he felt something cool pressing against his stomach. He grunted and in a moment of panic twisted his leg into an awkward position. He felt his foot connect with the fleshy part of the older man's stomach and pushed off sending the other falling to the foot of the steps. He quickly scrambled the rest of the way up the flight of stairs before looking down at Kabuto who was now kneeling wiping off some of the blood that was streaming down his lip.

"You'll pay for that Uchiha. You're lucky Orochimaru needs you alive!" Kabuto sneered before turning around and walking out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Sasuke quickly ran into his room and shut it quietly. Retrieving his pair of glasses from his school bag, he flopped onto his bed and took out the book he was reading earlier. When he opened the book a small slip of paper fell out into his lap.

_Sasuke, meet me at Touchstone Park at 7:00 tonight. –Sakura_

The time was half an hour until six. Sasuke made sure the door was locked before he slipped on a light sweat shirt and crawled out on the window ledge. He gulped before he lunged out towards the closest tree. Sasuke clambered down the tree clumsily before shakily putting his feet on sturdy ground.

The walk to the park was cool from the rain, Sasuke's shoes quickly getting soggy as he reached the park. He could see the outline of Sakura sitting on a swing set vaguely as he got closer. When he approached her close enough to make out every worried line on her face she sighed in relief, "So Neji slipped the note in your book huh?"

This caught the Uchiha off guard; he dumbly nodded his head unable to form words. Sakura nervously stood there biting on her manicured nails obviously waiting for him to say something, but all that Sasuke came up with was a simple "Hn."

Sakura sheepishly rocked back and forth on the swing. The pink haired girl stayed quiet for such a long time that Sasuke became restless and sat down on the other swing that was next to her. "Is there a reason I'm here?" Sasuke growled out in his low voice.

"Uhm, yeah. You see…It's about…us." Sakura stopped all her hesitant movements and simply stared up at the cloudy sky. "I can't do this anymore, Sasuke." She waited for him to say anything, or leave any trace of emotion whatsoever but Sasuke just sat there staring at his dirty sneakers. "I mean, I can't keep pretending to be your girlfriend."

"Hn." Sasuke replied as he got off the swing and started walking away. He concentrated his mind on the disgusting squishing noises his shoes made with each impact his feet made, but it was interrupted when his name was called by the pink haired girl though the moment it happened his brain distorted the voice into someone else's entirely.

"Sasuke!" Naruto's voice rang out and Sasuke immediately whipped around expecting to see the blue eyed boy standing behind him with his usual grin on his face. When his eyes only met with the jade of Sakura's his legs gave out on him, almost as if his whole entire writhed in disappointment. "Are you okay?" Sakura asked worriedly, kneeling down next to his defeated body. He simply grunted, she sighed a bit annoyed.

"Look, I'm sorry…I can't deal with this anymore, it's too…dangerous. You know more than I do that Orochimaru has been getting out of hand lately." Sakura stood up and slipped her hands into the pockets of her jeans before walking away from Sasuke. "I can't put myself in that type of danger anymore. This is goodbye Sasuke," Her voice cracked in an effort not to burst into tears, with the last words the girl turned around and Sasuke's only friend left him.

Sasuke allowed his body to collapse on the ground and flipped over onto his back staring up. He basked in the feeling of the sodden grass soaking his clothing. Soon an hour had passed, so Sasuke guessed, and he could hear soft voices speaking from somewhere. He quickly sat up nervously, it had gotten late and he was always informed that this area was not always safe after dark.

"Sasuke?" A quiet timid feminine voice called out from behind said boy. Sasuke quickly snapped around causing the owner of the voice to jump. The person who called his name was Hinata Hyuuga, cousin of Neji Hyuuga. The girl was at an average height with short purple-blue hair that only just passed her ears. Sasuke gasped when he felt a warm hand placed on his forehead.

"What have I told you about sitting out in storms? You have a fever." Neji's voice rang out from behind him. Sasuke gasped in surprise, he was pretty sure that a moment ago Hinata was the only person with him.

"It's not storming anymore." Sasuke said and swiped the other's hand off his forehead moodily. The hand the Uchiha slapped away at Neji's was grabbed roughly and pulled over his head. Sasuke stood there limply and glared up at the taller boy, "Go ahead, Neji. Beat me up. It's not like you haven't done it before," Sasuke sneered up at the other though at that moment he blacked out and the last thing he felt was warmth and something soft embracing him.

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**I hope you all enjoyed this! Thanks for reading! Please leave reviews! I tried to reply to all the reviewers, but then I got confused and forgot to mark down which ones I didn't reply to lol. But I'm going to be replying to all of them next chapter! Thank youuu!**

**Haha, watch out for my next one-shot called Kicking Boxes.**

**R&R!**


	3. Running to Chance

**A/N: Hello! This took a while longer than I expected, I've had a lot of time to do stuff with this since I'm not allowed to run anymore and I can only go help out with meets three times a week. So I've been working on this haha. I rewrote the beginning of this four times! I had like two paragraphs in the beginning incomplete for like a week and a half before I realized that that probably means I should just scratch it and start over haha.**

**Review Replies:**

**icyhiei – Thanks. So, obviously I did make it into a chapter story, I hope you like it just as much as the first chapter. I tried really hard to make it so that the people who loved the first part to Running from Mars would enjoy the whole thing.**

**Jedimasterkelso – Well, I was going to make it into a sequel and I guess it would make more sense because the first chapter is 16 pages without the stupid notes and the second and third chapter is only around 4-5 pages on average.**

**Jelzin – Thanks! I'm really trying to add a lot more to the plot but not overkill it, I don't want to make this chapter story really long. After this chapter things will pick up and it won't take forever for Naruto to go back lol, I'm already impatient.**

**Deadanimals – Aww. I saw your name when I opened the review alert e-mail lol and I was like: Oh my gosh! I read this person's fanfictions all the time! (I was really excited) If you couldn't tell, I really like your fanfic. Specifically: The Jesus of Suburbia.**

**Rika-chan 14 – Okay. I think I PMed you, you're probably ready to punch me. Anyways, I love love loved your review it made me laugh. Since I already pummeled you with enough of this I'll leave you alone.**

**Nanachan87 – Oh man, it IS corny haha. The ending? To the extreme. I tried so hard on the ending and no matter what it came out corny, but you know it's probably better that way. I HATE corny stuff with a passion, well in real life I do but not in stories haha.**

**Kai – Yeah, I was going to make it a two-shot, but then I know I'd end up making it SO short or SO long that it wouldn't even make sense. I didn't want it to be like: Naruto goes to the city, Naruto meets so and so, Sasuke does this and that, Naruto comes home, Party. Well, you know what I mean, I didn't want it to be stupid and disappoint my readers.**

**Snowdog367 – Aww, I feel bad because everyone wanted the sequel so they can just find out what happens but I was a jerk and made it into a multi-chapter. Whoops.**

**Chapter 2:**

**Nanachan87 – Sorry that it wasn't updated soon. I wanted it to be done sooner, I was on such a role and then I switched that chapter with another haha, thank you.**

**Madamadadanechibisuke – Me too! Haha, it'll be soon enough! Thanks!**

**Redfoxmoon – So much faith in Sasuke! Compared to last chapter I'm sorry to say this chapter stinks…Thank you!**

**Rika-chan 14 – Thank you so much! I feel bad for making Sasuke such a loner! Next chapter should answer A LOT of questions…**

**Dragon77 – Once again, sorry the chapter wasn't updated sooner! Thanks!**

**Snowdog367 – Thanks! Looking at this chapter makes me feel so much better about the last one haha. I still hope you like it, I don't really hate it too bad, it's just short!**

**Instant Ramen is tha SHIT – Nope, that was not the last chapter. I'd feel bad just leaving it at that point, I'm glad you liked it!**

**Jonter – Thanks! I'll make sure to update the next chapter faster if I can!**

**Jessica499499 – Thank youuu! Well, I was going to try to have this story like every other chapter in Naruto's life and then the others in Sasuke's but I tried it and it just didn't fit or make me motivated enough. Though there is a chapter in Naruto's life coming up, but next chapter will explain A LOT more.**

**For the bazillionth time THANK YOU REVIEWERS! I'll leave you alone now.**

Disclaimer - I didn't own Naruto last chapter, I don't own it now or claim that I do at ALL. Nor am I making any sort of money off of this.

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Running from Mars

Chapter 3

Running to Chance

When Sasuke came back into consciousness, he could feel the warmth of blankets covering him and it took a tremendous amount of effort just to sit himself up. He looked around noting that wherever he was, this was not Orochimaru's house and these were definitely not his sweat pants. He cursed under his breath before shrugging off the covers. The brunette stumbled and cursed his way until he found a light switch and a door which he didn't even know where to assume he was.

As soon as the confused teen opened the door and took a step outside something-or someone, grabbed his hand and led him back into the room he just escaped from. Light flooded the room, and showed a disheveled Neji. "Sorry Sasuke, you passed out and I didn't know where you lived. My uncle doesn't know you're staying over so you need to stay in here until tomorrow morning."

Sasuke huffed and looked around for a clock, when he spotted a digital alarm clock on the night stand beside the bed. "Your parents will understand right?" Neji asked uncertainly. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders refusing to talk, obviously still having hard feelings about the past. "Listen, I know we haven't gotten along," this was interrupted by a snort from the Uchiha, "but, I'm sorry about all that."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever, Hyuuga. Just show me the way out and let me go home." It was apparent that the Uchiha was growing very impatient and was in a dire need to go home.

Neji shook his head and crossed his arms, "I'm not just going to let someone who is sick walk home in the middle of the night, Sasuke."

"I'm not _sick._" Sasuke seethed.

Neji simply rolled his eyes and pushed Sasuke back towards the bed. "Whatever Uchiha, I'm getting tired of this persistent need to be misunderstood. You're staying whether you like it or not, I will be sure to talk to your parents or whoever you live with. Just get in bed." With one last push Sasuke was sent sprawling into bed.

The smaller boy glared up at the brunet and huffed. "You're such an ass you know that? I'll stay but when the morning comes, get the _hell_ out of my life." With that said the brooding teen turned his back to the other and curled under the covers.

Neji sighed and ran a hand furiously through his hair. He walked halfway out of the room before changing his mind and stomping his way back to Sasuke. "You know what, Sasuke. All I've been trying to do is be _nice._ I don't understand why you have to be so…stubborn."

"Maybe it's because for the past two years of my life, you and your friends have gone out of your way to make my life hell." Sasuke sneered, rolling around to face the brunet. "So, until you can get over your prissy self, don't go around acting like I should be the one apologizing to you." Neji finally left Sasuke alone in the room leaving the Uchiha to sleep.

When the morning came Sasuke woke up and found a school uniform folded over the end of the bed he was sleeping in. The sun was just about to rise so he guessed it wasn't even half past six. A knock sounded against the door before it opened and admitted the purple haired Hinata. "U-uhm m-my father l-left so you c-can leave i-if you want, Neji lent y-you the c-c-clothes

Sasuke groaned and picked up the clothes before placing them back into the small girl's arms. "Thanks, but I can make it home before school." He said before walking out of the door and running smack into Neji. He growled as he rubbed the side of his face the collided with the other's chest.

"Sorry I wasn't watching." Neji said quietly and walked back down the hall. Sasuke huffed miserably and followed, expecting to find the way out. He found the doors that led outside and quickly escaped the Hyuuga estate.

Sasuke walked all the way back to Orochimaru's with getting a smoke the only thing on his mind. He climbed up the side of the house hoping that no one woke up yet. He climbed through the window and unlocked the door. He curled in his bed once more, hoping that for once Orochimaru would not wake up early to bang on his door and wake him for school. He tried his very best to block out the memories and events of earlier that morning and the evening before.

Sure enough, a loud bang on Sasuke's door rushed him from his bed. He groaned and opened the door to see a very moody Orochimaru. "Sasuke, I'm going to work. I expect you no later than five o'clock, don't keep me waiting," He hissed into the young boy's ear before slinking off down the stairs.

Sasuke groaned before leaving to his closet picking out his usual black attire before staring at his unkempt hair. There was a trace of grease through his hair, but he didn't have time or the care to worry about it and just walked out the front door of the home after lighting a cigarette.

The Uchiha got to his high school on time to hear the warning bell. He could tell the teachers were staring at him as he walked down the hall, he _did _smell like a cigarette so he didn't really blame them. Sasuke ignored the sneers as he took his seat in his homeroom.

Throughout that day, Sasuke did what he did best: simply getting through the day. He ignored jeers, stares, glares and other forms of harassment. It was lunch time when his schedule changed, he usually just sat and read during lunch but today there was someone sitting at his table.

Sasuke huffed as he recognized the person as Sakura. The pink haired girl soon noticed the other approaching and waved him over. He reluctantly took a seat next to the girl and did his best to ignore her. "Sasuke, I'm sorry about the other day…"

"Sakura, you don't have to explain yourself. I get it. Wouldn't this be what you and your people call "social suicide"…" Sasuke gestured at the millions of curious people staring in their direction. It wasn't everyday that the popular Sakura Haruno hung out with Sasuke Uchiha.

Sakura sighed and smirked, "Exactly. I'm done with this crap, Sasuke. I never really honestly liked hanging out with those people; it was all just a fake." She settled her purse and books on the ground next to her chair as if to make a point. Sasuke just stared at the girl incredulously, not fully processing what was going on. The newly whimsical girl laughed and began to pry open her brown bagged lunch with her manicured nails before explaining more clearly, "Sasuke, what I'm trying to say is that I can't pretend to be your girlfriend anymore but I _do_ want to be your friend. I don't know if you considered me a friend like I did to you."

"Hn…" Sasuke mumbled before putting his book away, giving Sakura the sign that this was okay with him. The pink haired girl then started a conversation, though anyone else would have thought she was talking to a wall but she did not find this so unusual.

There wasn't very much time left until the lunch period ended before the Hyuuga boy walked up to Sasuke's newly populated table. Immediately the smaller boy looked down at his food ignoring the presence of the approaching brunet. Sakura, however, smiled and waved, "Hey, Neji. What's up?"

Neji ran a hand through his long hair looking as if he was in distress, "My friend and I are having a party…You're invited." He handed her a small piece of paper with an address and other information on it. "It's really Suigetsu's party; he's a sophomore in high school if you know him."

Sasuke focused on disappearing and praying that the older boy would not realize he was sitting next to Sakura. His wishes were stomped on when the Hyuuga turned to him and an identical piece of paper was placed in front of his food. "You're invited too, Sasuke." Neji didn't say anything except for a goodbye to Sakura before leaving silently to sit back at his table.

"Do you think you'll go?" Sakura asked, staring at the paper as if making a big decision. Sasuke only huffed and rolled his eyes. "Won't you go with me? I don't want to go alone, Sasuke." The said boy still only grunted and shook his head. Before the pink haired girl could protest the bell rang signaling for them to leave and go to their next class.

At the end of the day Sasuke walked to Kakashi's classroom, curious to see if he'd be home today. "Oh, hey Sasuke," the gray haired man said casually, leaning back in his seat at the desk. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. Can I come over today? I don't want to go straight home." Sasuke asked shifting uneasily. Of course there were other things for him to do but he'd rather just relax somewhere without worrying about if Orochimaru or Neji would show up.

Kakashi nodded, "Yeah, I have to finish some things up here first then I can take you back." The teacher scratched his head and suddenly looked uneasy. "I saw you talking to the Hyuuga boy today. What's up with him?"

"Uh, well he invited me to his party. Lately he's been trying to apologize for being an asshole," Sasuke sighed and took a seat at a nearby desk. He placed his head in his hands.

"Why don't you give him a chance? Go to his party," Kakashi suggested. Coming from any other adult, this would have been ludicrous, but it was Kakashi Hatake and this was absolutely normal.

Sasuke huffed, his fingers itching beside his jeans pocket for a cigarette finally giving in a retrieving one. "Give him a chance to be an ass again?" The older man eyed the cigarette the younger boy held between his fingers.

Kakashi sighed before closing his books and placing them in his suitcase. "Didn't Naruto give you a chance to be an ass again? What's the difference?" The silver haired man stood up and walked over to the brunet. He snatched the cigarette before Sasuke could light it.

Sasuke growled, "The difference _is_ I'm not like him. I actually keep my promises; he just makes them to make the other person feel better at that moment." He swung his book bag around his shoulder before barreling out the door.

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**A/N: Yes, I know that keeping promises has NOTHING to do with what Kakashi was talking about. That was the point haha. Anyways, I'm sorry for the lack of length and update. A lot has been going on and school has been exhausting!**

**So the next chapter will be up as soon as I can…Except! I've been working on Kicking Boxes (my up-coming one-shot that WILL not be made into a chapter story) for like six months now so I'm really aiming to get it done!**

**Enough with the Author Notes! Please excuse the length! Next chapter will be better!**

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!**


	4. Running to Shame and Unfortune

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A/N: Hello! Thanks for everyone who's read this so far. I'm amazed! I hope you like this chapter, I do! I'm pretty proud of it! I don't have much to say…Haha. I'm trying to update this one more, and my Kicking Boxes isn't going too well haha, I'm thinking of scratching it but I dunnoooo. Look at the end to see more details if you're interested in writing....

**Okay, so this chapter is once again Sasuke-centered…Sorry, I know everyone is like: Where the heck is Naruto?! He's coming, don't worry. You'll find out **_**next**_** chapter what he's been doing. **

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**Review Responses!**

**Moopad – **Thank youuuu. Haha, this story frustrates me because I really really want to update it all the time, but then there's other stories to write…Which I don't even get to update because I spend what little time to write I have, on this one. Oh well. I love this story better!

**Rika-chan 14 –** Yaay, I'm glad you were excited for that chapter haha, I hope you weren't disappointed too much. Haha, you're not a horrible person for thinking that. A lot of people think that too, it's because Sasuke is such a depressing person. Except I can't see him as emo, because he doesn't have that many emotions haha, which is what emo truly stands for but I get what you are saying haha. **P.S. **I truly get what you're saying with the whole fat substitute deal, I had this teacher last year who never laughed at ANYTHING…Except when people failed things, she laughed then. Randomness? Yes. Thanks!

**Shimaki-33 – **Aww! I feel so bad for making Sasuke depressed! I'm never nice to him, I'm so prejudice ever since he left in the anime haha. It's a revenge sort of thing. Plus in my other fanfic, Naruto is generally miserable throughout it so y'know, it's Sasuke's turn. **To your review in chapter 2:** You are going to be soo angry when I tell you this. I SO had KakaIru originally in this story like FIVE times just in all three of these chapters haha, but then I deleted them! In the beginning there was this like half page phone call between the two about a date haha, but then I deleted it for some reason or another. And this chapter originally started with Kakashi at Iruka's in the morning eating pancakes…Sleepover? Hah. I'm going to go back and add the telephone part in then, because you just reminded me of that. The pancakes part will be in next Sasuke chapter, so watch out! **Your review in chapter 1: **Isn't it gross that Sasuke smokes? **SMOKING IS A DISGUSTING HABIT. DON'T DO IT! **I'm so going to add your chair story in the first chapter…Well maybe not, but I might…Poor Naruto. :D Thank you.

**Colgate – **Thank you! You are wonderful! I can't believe that I'm actually getting this done about a month.

**Dragon77 –** Haha, I hope you don't kill me after this chapter! I actually feel bad for Neji (woah, how random is this?), but I have to admit, he is very OOC in my story. Except, a lot of Sasuke pairings with anyone other than Naruto or Sakura don't make very much sense. Well, I don't think ANY Sasuke pairings are THAT realistic (SasuNaru to me is more realistic than any, feel free to disagree), Sasuke never really interacts with any of the other characters in Naruto other than Team 7. Thanks!

**Namineheart12 – **I'm glad you liked it! BUAHAHA. I'm sorry if this isn't soon enough for you, but I'm so proud of myself with the updatedness. Thanks for your wonderful review!

I LOVE MY REVIEWERS...I think the above is proof enough, or maybe you get annoyed by all my babbling.

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. Never ever will I. No interest in owning it, it would be horrid. Nobody wants that. So obviously I do no claim to own anything about the t.v. show Naruto.**

**I just wanted to say, smoking is stupid and I do NOT encourage anyone to smoke like Sasuke (fictional character) does…You will notice this is random, because there is no smoking except for one tiny part in this chapter. ENJOY!**

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**Running from Mars**

Chapter 4

Running to Shame and Unfortune

Sasuke stood outside the door of a large fancy home, far more expensive looking than he's ever seen. He could already hear the deafening music from the house trying to escape through the cracks of windows and doors. The raven gulped before ringing the doorbell, silently cursing Kakashi for convincing him to go.

The door opened revealing a tall teen with shoulder length white hair. The smile that was splayed on his lips fell into a scowl at the shorter pale teen. "What do _you_ want?" He asked with disgust ringing with each word.

"Relax, Suigetsu. It's only Sasuke, remember I told you I invited him?" A different teen this time responded and Sasuke immediately recognized him as Neji with some relief. The brunet smiled faintly at Sasuke before letting him in. Suigetsu grunted an apology before slipping off into the crowd of people.

As soon as Sasuke walked through the door he knew he didn't belong there. It was a parent's nightmare. There were teenagers everywhere drinking liquid that Sasuke was positive that was not apple juice and smoke that was definitely not from cigarettes or anything he's ever smelled.

Instead of trying to find Sakura like the two had planned, Sasuke started to try to blend in with the walls and become invisible. In fact, that was easy for the teen since that was how he went by in school.

After awhile, Sasuke couldn't help but noticing an odd looking girl much older than he was with distinct red hair glancing at him every now and then. After several uncomfortable minutes he decided to relocate in hopes of finding his pink haired friend.

He found himself standing alone in the corner of the room sheepishly. He prayed that no one from school would spot him and completely focused his mind once more on becoming invisible.

"Why are you standing alone?" A gruff voice asked. Sasuke cringed at the fowl smell of alcohol present on the teen's breath and looked up at the abnormally tall…teen, though he looked too old to be considered this. Sasuke refused to answer hoping that he would soon be forgotten. "I see…Here, drink some of this." A cup was pushed into his hands roughly before the mysterious guy sauntered off elsewhere.

Sasuke peered into the cup at the dark orangey colored liquid curiously. It was obviously some sort of alcoholic beverage, though he could see something mysteriously fizzing at the bottom. He took the cup up to his lips delicately before tilting it, but before he could even taste the drink the cup was yanked out of his hand spilling it all on the floor. He looked at the offender and glared. It was, of course, Neji.

"Dear lord, Sasuke how stupid can you get? Never accept a drink at a party like this, especially from Juugo," Neji growled and bent over to pick up the plastic cup that lay on the floor without bothering to wipe up the spilt liquid. "If you wanted something to drink you could have just gone and got one yourself. Wait here, I'll get you something to drink."

For once, Sasuke actually complied to Neji's command and waited for him to return. It wasn't long before the brunet came back and offered Sasuke another drink. He took a sip before cringing at the bitter taste that burnt all the way down his throat; however that did not stop him from gulping down the rest. "Jeez, Sasuke-"

Neji was interrupted by a glare from Sasuke and a growl, "Get me another one." Neji was hesitant. He was positive that the raven would get drunk even after one cup with his low body weight, but in an attempt to get on the better side he went to get another drink.

Sasuke could feel a certain fuzziness, but he would be too embarrassed to admit this affect from just one drink. When the brunet returned once more, he snatched the drink and gulped it. Neji glanced at the Uchiha worriedly before walking off towards the voice of someone who called for him.

Finally realizing that there was no point in being there at all since he had no interest in socializing with other people he made his way out of the living room. Halfway through the room, long arms wrapped around his waist pulling him back into a taller body. "Where do you think you are going, hun?" A feminine voice whispered in his ear. He could practically taste the alcohol on the girl's breath as she spoke.

"Home," Sasuke growled out before he untwined the arms from his waist and turned around to see who it was that harassed him. It was the red haired girl who was staring at him from earlier. The girl's face lit up in a mischievous smirk, obviously not having the intention of leaving the party. The Uchiha glared before stepping past the girl and quickly striding towards the door but instead of the door knob, his hand was grabbed by the persistent girl.

"Ne, have some more to drink before you go at least. I'm sure it's not often you get invited to parties like _this._" The red head murmured once more into his ear. Sasuke yanked on the hand that kept his captive, though the girl ignored it and began to drag him into the kitchen by his hand ignoring the obvious distaste that resonated from the boy.

"Sui-kun pour this kid something good!" The girl's voice was pitchy and her movements were clumsy due to the obvious alcohol consumption. The white haired teen from before was standing at the counter and looked at Sasuke, who just looked away as if he was bored.

Suigetsu rolled his eyes and obeyed his drunk friend and handed her a beer. "Karin, why are you hanging out with that kid? You must be really drunk…or stupid." Sasuke sent the talking boy a glare before sticking out his hand for the drink.

The girl caressed the Uchiha's face with her manicured nails, "He's such a dork, and it's _cute._" She purred, but not far after that Juugo came by and his shoulder collided with the clumsy girl which caused her to shove herself into Sasuke all the while spilling the beer all over Sasuke's shirt.

Karin was able to recover quite quickly, however Sasuke ended up on the floor on his back. The red head grinned down at the boy and burst into churlish laughter leading everyone else currently in the room join in. The boy groaned and sat up before a hand was offered to him. He looked up and once more found Neji; he accepted the hand and was pulled up to his feet and quickly led into a bathroom.

Sasuke sat on the toilet seat and glared steadfastly at the point where the walls intersected. Neji came back in the bathroom with a brown t-shirt folded in his arms, "Here you go. It may be a little big." The shorter of the two huffed and practically tore off his shirt in frustration. "Look, Sasuke, I'm sorry about Karin and Suigetsu. They can be real assholes."

"Just like all your other friends," Sasuke grumbled before putting an arm through the shirt, as he went to put in his other arms Neji's arm shot out and caught him in the awkward transition between undressed and dressed right before he slid the shirt over his head. The Uchiha glared up at the brunet, but his stony gaze softened at the unhidden emotion behind the Hyuuga's colorless eyes.

Neji slid the shirt down his arms until he could see Sasuke's face clearly and knelt down on one knee. "I'm trying to become a better person, Sasuke, but you're making it damn difficult." Sasuke looked away, he never felt that he was claustrophobic but now that the brunet was sitting so near he felt as if he was going to get compressed into nothing. He found himself forced to stare into the face of the older boy by a hand softly touching his cheek.

Sasuke only managed to whisper out a soft "Why?" His brain became fuzzy but he wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or the cool soft hand now stroking his cheek in an unusually careful way that Sasuke had not felt in a long time. The brunet opened his mouth to say something but the raven did not hear anything except his slow uneven heartbeat and the buzzing sound in his ears.

Neji was about to say something once more, but he realized that it would fall upon deaf ears so he took another course. Just as Sasuke was sure the walls were going to cave in, soft yet slightly damp lips were pressed against his and the caressing hand moved back to massage his scalp tenderly. Sasuke's hands lay limp on his lap, trapped by the arms of the shirt. Almost feeling invited by the feeling of warmth, something unknown to the raven, he leaned into the kiss. His mind was only filled with the hand caressing through his hair and a slightly disgusting damp…thing crawling across his lips like a snake.

Sasuke was thrown out of his trance-like state when he felt a hand slip on his thigh. In an instant Sasuke shoved Neji off him, but when he looked at the brunet sprawled on the floor it was a dejected, tearful Naruto that he saw staring up at him. Sasuke groaned and fell to his knees, pulling up the toilet seat before releasing a load of vomit into the toilet in shame. Without giving a second glance at Neji who was still laying on the floor in regret, Sasuke left the bathroom before leaving the house entirely.

Sasuke almost collapsed as his body was blasted with the cool night air. He stumbled his way down the driveway a sense of loss hitting him. He heard the door open from behind him and Sakura's voice called his name. The Uchiha clenched his hands into a fist before willing his face to portray his usually stoic self. He turned to look at the pink haired girl, "What?"

"Come back and dance with me! The party is so much fun!" Sakura squealed. Sasuke just peered at her with his eyebrows raised; this was coming from the girl who declared social suicide a couple weeks ago. He shook his head and walked on down the street and with every step on his way home he saw the face of the hurt blond which caused him to ask the question: _How much longer?_

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**A/N: Awww. Poor Sasuke. A smidge of one-sided NejiSasu. I hope you enjoyed it! I actually am satisfied with it other than being short, which I'm actually trying to do. Leave a review! I love reading through them and responding! I'm sorry if I've skipped any, it's not on purpose.**

**On another note, I am halfway done with Kicking Boxes and I'm stuck with writer's block…Bumbumbummm! I have the whole thing planned out, but I'm just too stuck and I have been working on it for too long and have replaced it with another idea! **_If anyone is interested in continuing the one-shot PM or E-MAIL me, I ask that you have written a story or two or are confident that you are able to write a generally good detailed story._**I'm not trying to be picky, I'm just really proud in the story that I've written to the halfway point and I'd be disappointed to see it go to waste.****Check my profile for more details!**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Running from Mars! I'm looking forward to reading any reviews! I promise the next two chapters will be Naruto and happier!**


	5. Running to Patience

**A/N: Hello again! I'm so sorry everyone! I meant to update it before Christmas! I feel so terrible for the wait, this was supposed to come out December 21****st****... My computer broke down and I lost this chapter along with the two and a half more pages of Kicking Boxes that I had typed up. I think this chapter is better than the originally planned one I had so enjoy!**

**This is a Naruto based chapter, it might not make a lot of sense at first, like where he is and etc. but it'll clear up near the end of this chapter into the next. Okay onto the Replies to the Reviewers!**

**Chapter 4 Review Replies:**

**Shimaki-33 – **Uhm, once again I'm very very very sorry about the wait…I can only imagine what kind of glare you're giving me this time haha. Well, KakaIru won't be very explicit but there will be some little hints and clues and moments with them in it I think in the future. Thank youuu!

**Rika-chan 14 – **Haha, I felt bad for giving Sasuke more drama…Too bad I'm only going to torture him more Buahahahaha. This chapter is a drama-free chapter…Uh, for the most part at least. I'm trying to keep this chapter more cheerful. Hmm, a tutu, I'll have to think about that one. I hope you like this chapter!

**Atemswhitetigermew –** Awww, I'm glad you read it even though you were tired! Your review made me happy, thank you! I hope you enjoy this one even more!

**Moonlightstar12** – I updated! Yaaay. I hope you like this chapter and continue to read my story! Thanks for the review!

**Fowl68 – **Aww, thank you. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad I deleted the first story I've ever put up on fanfiction…It was AWFUL. I think it was called It's Just Not Enough, I shudder to think of it…It was first person view and it was a Sasuke and Sakura story. Sorry, your review reminded me of that because you said well-written and well…my first story was not well-written, it was very sloppy. ANYWAYS! Thanks so much!

**Disclaimer: **I do NOT own Naruto. Also, I'm going to note that the whole Naruto taking these tests in order for him to be able to go to school is made up by me. This story doesn't take place in specifically our world/country, so it doesn't have to be realistic because this would probably not be dealt with the same way at least in the U.S.

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Running from Mars

Chapter 5

Running to Patience

Naruto Uzumaki was sitting peaceably on the far left side of wooden bleachers facing a track crowded with the track and field team members from local schools. "Hey, Naruto, is Ino almost up to run yet?" Asked a boy with brown hair pulled back with a band.

"Oh, hey Shikamaru, no she's running in about ten minutes." Naruto replied, shielding his eyes from the bright sun and tried to search out for their blonde haired friend. "I think she's running the eight-hundred and the two mile today."

"Ah, okay. Hey, did you finish all that work your tutor gave you?" Shikamaru asked curiously, taking his Algebra book from the book bag hanging from his back. Naruto rolled his eyes at, what he commonly insulted him as, 'the overachiever'.

"Yeah, but it took me hours since you refused to help me with it!" Naruto groaned, wiping some sweat that formed on his forehead. "Jeez, where's Chouji already?! He's going to miss Ino's race…"

Shikamaru ignored his complaint on Chouji, because they both knew he was probably sneaking a snack before meeting up with them. "Naruto, I can't do _all_ the work for you, the only way you'll learn is-"

"Shikamaru, stop nagging him! It's so annoying. At least do it when I'm not around." This comment came from a blonde slightly frizzy haired girl standing in front of the two; she was dressed in blue sweats and a runner's jersey.

"Thank you Ino!" Naruto grinned at his victory. Shikamaru however was not pleased at the interruption he simply shrugged idly and went back to his algebra homework he so diligently set out to do.

Ino covered the page the he was reading with one of her hands grumpily, "Shika, you're not planning on doing your homework while my race is going are you?"

"No, Ino…" Shikamaru sighed wistfully, "but aren't you supposed to be warming up or whatever it is you athletes do?" Ino scowled down at the brunet, who didn't even bother to look up from his book. The blonde got up and stalked off moodily, which made a sigh of relief pass Shikamaru's lips. Naruto laughed nervously at the retreating back of Ino.

It wasn't very long after that when they lined the girls running the eight hundred up. Naruto was always surprised at how calm and focused Ino looked, she even looked a little scary he had to admit. In seconds there was a gunshot and screams were coming from every direction. Naruto joined in and screamed Ino's name loudly, Shikamaru just watched quietly refusing to join in. All the screaming burst into cheers as the race finished and Ino came up in third.

"Do you _want _Ino to get angry at you? Can't you at least cheer for her?" Naruto asked his friend testily. Shikamaru and Ino had an overwhelming indifference towards each other that made Naruto wonder how the two were such close friends. Naruto never denied that the bickering of the two got annoying very fast.

Shikamaru clicked his tongue against his teeth and stared up at Naruto with a glazed over expression as if he would rather be anywhere else than where he sat at that moment. "There's really no point in cheering for her, especially _this _race." The comment only pulled a questioning look from the blond. Shikamaru sighed and elaborated, "She always gets third place in the eight-hundred. You think that's a coincidence?" Without a further word he busied himself with his homework.

Loud stomping noises made its way up through the bleachers to wear the two teenagers were sitting. It was a heavy-set boy with spiked brown hair wearing his usually school uniform of black pants and white buttoned up shirt. "Hey guys!" The boy said in between chewing on some potato chips.

"You're late again…" Shikamaru sighed, "How troublesome…" He trailed off into mumbles and went back to his homework. Chouji just shrugged it off and took a seat on the opposite side of Naruto.

"You missed the eight-hundred but her race starts after the sixteen-hundred. She got-"

"I know, third place right?" Chouji interrupted with his mouth full of potato chips. Naruto backed away a little bit, afraid of crumbs flying at him.

"Wow, how do you and Shikamaru know this stuff?"

"…You mean you haven't even noticed? She gets third place _on purpose_!" Chouji stared at Naruto incredulously. Naruto's mouth was agape and looked at Shikamaru expectantly as if waiting for a confirmation that this was true. "_Exactly._ She _hates_ the eight-hundred. Yet, the coaches always force her to run it because she did so well in it."

Naruto let it process through his head, the whole idea made no sense to him whatsoever. He wouldn't deny that it wasn't something that would be unexpected of Ino. His friend, for the four and a half months that Naruto knew the girl, had always been stubborn and argumentative. "I can't believe that. She always looks so focused!"

Shikamaru involuntarily snorted and rolled his eyes, "Focused on losing. Just forget about it, it's too much work to even try to sort out the way she thinks. Also, don't ask her about it. She thinks she's being 'sneaky' about it."

So Naruto did forget about it and eventually just stayed contented to sit back and watch the meet. An hour later, the four were sitting in the front lawn of their middle school waiting for Shikamaru's dad to pick them up.

They were in a deep conversation about the latest comic book based movie that was recently released when a tall brown haired boy stood several feet away with a sneer placed on his face. Behind him came a shorter brunette with camouflage pants and a boy who nobody could really tell how tall he is since he was hunched over with his hands in his pockets. It was the tall brunet who talked first, "Hey, Ino why don't you ditch the fat ass and the two dorks and come with us. There's a party at Dosu's place tonight."

Ino sat there for a moment and looked around at Chouji, Shikamaru, and Naruto as if contemplating the notion of ditching them. It was a minute or two afterwards when she smiled politely and shrugged her shoulders, "Nope. No thanks, Zaku." This spread a look of shock and fury across the three's face.

"Whatever, it's your choice to hang out with two retards and the boy who broke the record for the World's Fattest Teenager." Zaku retaliated with a snarl. Chouji's face became bright red and his 'brow furrowed in anger, but didn't waste his breath. Ino stood up slowly her arms shaking. Shikamaru however, sat there stoically with his eyes closed completely oblivious.

Zaku stood there with a hand on his hip and smirked to his hunched over friend, "Hey, maybe we should teach them a lesson…What do you think, Dosu?" The other boy just laughed, picked up a rock and swung his arm back to aim a throw at Chouji. However, before the rock was even thrown, Ino intervened and sent a vicious punch with connected directly with the bridge of Dosu's nose.

"You bastard!" Ino screamed while pushing him on the ground and stepped on his chest. Naruto stared at the unfolding scene in horror, Ino's chest was heaving in such rage that he had never seen come from such an average looking girl.

"Hey, Shikamaru, do you think we should help Ino? It looks like they want to murder her…"

"What a troublesome girl…Just watch, Naruto. You can't afford to get into trouble."

Naruto was having a hard time listening to his request however, when the girl pushed Ino off Dosu. Ino stumbled shortly before getting to her feet again. "Ino, watch out!" A rock merely missed her cheek. When she found the offender, Shikamaru had already knocked Zaku down to the ground with a well aimed punch to the gut.

"Get out of here, Abumi. You're a waste of our time." Shikamaru said impassively as he sat back down next to Naruto. The three sneered for the last time before they retreated off down the slopes of the school yard. "Ino, did you _really_ have to punch him? Seriously, is that the only way you settle things?"

Ino appeared to ignore him as she wiped the blood from her knuckles on the grass, "Gross." Naruto scratched the back of his neck nervously and backed away slowly. When the blonde turned around she just grinned at them sheepishly, "I guess I got carried away! Uh, don't tell my parents okay?" Not wanting to turn out with a bleeding nose like Dosu, they all simultaneously nodded their heads in confirmation.

"Geez, Shikamaru, when is your dad going to get here?" Chouji groaned rubbing his growling stomach with his hand as if a couple minutes ago he wasn't called a fat-ass.

Shikamaru simply shrugged and went back to his stoic doze. It was Ino who struck up the conversation. "Hey, Naruto, are you coming to our school when you pass whatever you need to do?"

"Uh…No." Naruto hesitantly replied looking away from his friends in a little bit of shame. Chouji and Ino looked shock and stared expectantly at their friend, however Shikamaru did not seem the least bit surprised. "Actually, I'm going to stay with the person who took me in, Iruka."

"Really? I can't believe it. I was so looking forward for you to coming to school with us. Y'know, join the track team! You would be amazing." Ino's voice was softer than usual and she laid back down and just stared upwards. "So, when do you take this whole test and everything?"

"In a couple of months I hope." Naruto's voice was filled with hope and optimism. He spent the last four and a half months in one of the biggest cities in his country. It was so different from where Naruto was used to that he was sure he would get lost easily. However, Jiraiya found help from a friend's son by the name of Shikamaru Nara who would help him with general knowledge and show Naruto around the city. There were a number of requirements that Naruto had to meet in order to be welcomed and qualified for a normal life of a student.

"Hey, Shika, aren't you affected by this at _all?_ You know, sometimes I think you don't have any capacity for emotion whatsoever!" Ino jabbed the lazy boy in the side with her index finger.

Shikamaru sighed idly and sat up. "I already knew Naruto wasn't going to stay, figured it out already." The long haired brunet shrugged his shoulders and stood to his feet when he saw his dad pull up across the road. "Besides, I'm not the one wasting the time we have on fights provoked by troublesome guys." He didn't wait for a reply and simply walked towards the car.

Ino sent a nasty glare at Shikamaru's back while she and the other two got up to follow. She soon got over Shikamaru's remark and nudged Naruto with her elbow gently, "So, why do you _really_ want to go back there? Special someone, huh?" She smirked teasingly at him.

Naruto's face flushed, but he grinned nonetheless, "Sort of…" He felt like he would pass out from the embarrassment, before a wave of excitement and realization flooded over him. He would see Sasuke in a matter of months. He would be able to walk to school with him, talk to him, and be with him, just in a matter of months, which in the gist of it all is a very, very short time.

"Wait, yes. Someone very special is waiting for me there. That is why I have to pass this test."

**I hope you liked it. It doesn't really explain a whole lot, I just wanted to clarify what was going on where Naruto is, who he was with…It's just one scene that happens in a matter of hours though. It's also VERY SHORT, but it's been 4 months when I only wanted it to be one. The next chapter will be up sooner than that, I promise! The next chapter will be the time skip…Bumbumbum, and also be a Sasuke-centric chapter. I mainly wanted to show that at least someone in this story is a happy person haha.**

**Please read and review! I always enjoy reading and replying to all the reviews! They mean a lot, despite my slow updating rate…Okay, don't kill me too much about the delay haha.**


	6. Running to Surprise

**A/N:** Hello! I'm glad you liked the story enough to read up to this chapter! Thank you. Uh, I want to keep this short because I rant too much! This story is almost over! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I hope it doesn't seem too rushed!

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**Moopad –**=) The reunion shall be very very soon. You can count on that since this is…Bumbumbum THE SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER! I'm trying to make Sasuke's life a little easier…Buahaha or maybe not. Thank you so much!

**Sasodei-iz-awesome** – Awww, thank you. I'm glad you like it and decided to review! Haha, there's more Neji in this chapter so watch out. Now that I think of it, Neji is out of character in this story but I could care less really (which I realize sounds really horrible but I don't know if you guys care), as long as the main people are at least almost in character. However, feel free to be like: How dare you not care about Neji being out of character! Then I will uh try to fix it as much as I can…Uh, sorry I'm done ranting to you. Thank you!

**Voltairey (A.K.A Rika-chan14)** – Buahahaha, I feel the same way: I sometimes get a kick out of torturing Sasuke in stories. You don't have to worry about me dropping the story, I promise haha. I only have one more chapter to go and it'll be finished! Thanks! P.S. Bah, sorry about your whole account deal. I know how that feels =P.

**Chibisansempei –** Man, I feel like such a failure when it comes to updating. I was all hardcore when I saw all these reviews, including this one, so I was all: YEAH I'M GOING TO UPDATE WITHIN A MONTH!...Yeah, I have no excuse for this though. I had a brain fart? Is that sufficient? Haha. Don't get me wrong, I try so hard to update. It's just that sometimes I'll get halfway done with the chapter and then I realize that it's awful. Then I just rewrite it completely and it comes out completely different, and most of the times better. Anyhow! Thanks, I hope you didn't mind the wait!

**Atemswhitetigermew – **Aww, thank you! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you! I think it may seem a little rushed…But a lot actually happens!

**Thank you to all my readers and reviewers!**

**! I actually have a dedication for this chapter ! The KakaIru moment, even though it's just ittybitty, haha I made that for SHIMAKI-33. Just because. =) Does this count as KakaIru? Haha, probably not but enjoy!

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Running From Mars

Chapter 6

Running to Surprise

Sasuke sat outside his high school on a bench, sneaking puffs from his cigarette letting the lukewarm feeling of the smoke fill his body though the cold of winter still managed to seep through his coat and scarf. "Sasuke, are you ready?" A taller teen with long brown hair held out a hand in front of the Uchiha generously. The other boy nodded and gently grasped the offered hand with his own and discarded the fading cigarette.

It was over two years since Naruto left and Sasuke was now halfway through his first year of high school. That wasn't the only change however. The once broody and gloomy boy grew up, not necessarily for the better, into a serious and withdrawn teen. The change was not only mentally, he grew several inches and now two years later he stood at five foot nine.

Snow fell silently from the sky as the couple walked down the street to Sasuke's home. "The final court hearing is next week isn't it?" Neji breathed out, the hand that was grasped in his struggled out of its confinements. Sasuke nodded, his expression not changing from his usual listlessness. The long haired brunet tenderly tightened the scarf around his companion's neck, being aware of his susceptibility to illness during winter. "My birthday is coming up in a couple weeks; do you want to go out to eat?"

Sasuke grunted and nodded his head with a small and wary smile. It wasn't that the Uchiha couldn't talk; as much as he didn't want to deny it his nerves were getting the best of him. With the final court proceedings happening, he was getting restless just spending his days being idle. The next two weeks would decide where he would spend the next couple of years until he turned 18.

His thoughts hardly lingered more than a moment on Naruto anymore. He gave up on the promise once made; he had already decided that false hope was of no comfort to him. His old friend obviously moved on and finally became a student of a nice school and was made a star track athlete. Instead his loneliness of two years was muffled under the Hyuuga's rough yet tender demeanor. Their relationship bloomed a couple months after Suigetsu's party after the normal flow of letters sent by Naruto stopped.

The two stopped in front of a large brick house. In the front yard a big white dog stood with its bushy tail spastically swinging back and forth from excitement. Sasuke leaned over the dog, running his hands through the soft yet damp fur.

"Akamaru! Come boy!" A teenage boy with spiked brown hair wearing baggy blue jeans and a casual white t-shirt yelled out the door. It took him a moment to recognize the faces of the two. Immediately his face split into a grin, "Hey, Sasuke, and Neji. You guys are just in time for dinner."

Sasuke looked towards Neji, almost pleadingly. Neji sighed and nodded a bit, "Alright, if I'm not intruding I'll stay. Just let me call my house before I stay too long, Kiba." The couple proceeded through the door. They were both happily greeted by a much more feminine version of Kiba.

"Welcome home, Sasuke. It's good to see you again, Neji. I made spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner tonight, I hope you don't mind." Hana greeted with an outgoing smile. The two sent back polite greetings then moved to Sasuke's room to set down their school stuff and call Neji's household. Sasuke sprawled on the bed while Neji used the home phone. This had been his home for the past year, the Inuzuka household was fair and nice but it was also strange and foreign.

They removed him from his home with Orochimaru yet refused to send him to anyone who would be subjected to a court hearing, which included Kakashi. The only family willing to take in the trouble-bringer was the Inuzukas. It was then where Kiba actually treated him like a human being.

Neji hung up the phone and looked to the bed where Sasuke was on. The raven's eyes were closed, his face tensed into a deep frown of concentration. The Hyuuga found himself staring, noting the way the teen's limbs were splayed every which way yet he still didn't seem uncomfortable. He sat on the edge of the bed carefully and swept the hair off of the other's face. "We should go downstairs for supper, Sasuke," He tried not to sound too demanding as to not receive a glare from Sasuke.

The dinner was very well cooked, which didn't really surprise anyone since Hana was usually a good cook. "So, Sasuke, why were you so late getting home tonight?" Tsune, Kiba and Hana's mother, asked curiously.

"Neji had a student council meeting, and I didn't really have anything to do so I waited there for him," Sasuke replied in his usual quiet tone. It would be expected that someone like Sasuke could create an awkward atmosphere over dinner, but yet Hana and Kiba created so much chatter and banter that it made up for any of the awkwardness.

After dinner Neji gathered his things and was led to the door by Sasuke. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?" Neji asked hopefully. Sasuke just nodded his dark smoldering eyes boring holes into the other teens. "Goodbye, Sasuke." With that, Neji swept the shorter teen into his arms gently and buried his face in the dark black hair. The raven flinched at the sudden contact, not returning the embrace yet not pulling away either. A moment later the Hyuuga was gone, leaving Sasuke staring out of the doorway utterly lost in his thoughts.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning and Kakashi sat at a kitchen table, a hot cup of coffee placed in front of him. Iruka came over and placed a plate of pancakes in front of him before returning to his own seat. "Hey, Kakashi, I wonder if we should tell Sasuke about Naruto…" Iruka mumbled gently, his finger tracing the edge of his own mug idly.

"Yeah, I wondered that too. I don't want to ruin him being content at the moment, though." Kakashi sighed and looked up at the clean white ceiling. Iruka hummed to himself quietly, gazing over at his companion curiously wondering what was running through his mind.

"I guess you're right. It's better if we keep it quiet." Iruka said. Kakashi combed his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Kakashi, what's _really_ wrong? You've been spaced out lately."

Kakashi smiled cheekily and winked, "Ahh, Iruka, it's just that-"

Iruka glared and hit him over the head harshly, "No! I know what you're going to say and it's going to be perverted! Forget that I asked and eat your pancakes," He sighed and looked away. Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Jiraiya?!" Iruka yelled in surprise as he opened the door.

"Hey, Sasuke what movie do you want to watch?" Neji asked as they walked towards the movie complex, hand in hand. It was a Saturday and one of the first times Neji had no invitational for indoor track so they decided, more like Sasuke decided, that they would go see a new movie. Neji was surprised that Sasuke would let them be seen holding hands, he usually avoided it because of all the bewildered glances they received.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders, "It doesn't matter. How about that new horror movie?"

"Okay, if you're sure you won't get too scared." This comment only received a death glare from the raven. Neji laughed softly, but the glare didn't let up. "Oh please, Sasuke. You're such a little princess." The Hyuuga boy swiftly grabbed the hanging end of Sasuke's scarf before pulling him closer to be only a breath's width apart. Sasuke's eyes narrowed suspiciously up at him.

Before anything else could happen, a hand tapped Sasuke on the shoulder. The teen jumped and turned around, nearly choking himself since Neji still didn't let go of his scarf. There was a scream, but Sasuke couldn't tell if it was him or the boy in front of him, and then he felt a fist collide with his face. "You bastard! I worked so _hard_ for you! And _this_ is how you repaid me?!" Sasuke fell over which was in only a matter of seconds, but it seemed like forever to him. He could only hear sobbing and see the face of the teen he spent a year and a half brooding over.

Naruto was actually here. After over two years of waiting, he actually got to see Naruto Uzumaki, but as he looked up through watery eyes, he wasn't seeing the grinning hyperactive thirteen year old boy he used to read books to. He was looking up at a tearful and angry fifteen year old. Sure, he was recognizable by his looks, though he was taller (almost 6 feet), he still had his tanned skin that accented his bright blond hair and the piercing blue eyes.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke by his collar, his rage flashing out of control. He couldn't tell if he felt more anger or hurt, all he could see was Sasuke with Neji flashing through his mind. After all those years of hard work, just to come back to see Sasuke, and he lost him to the very boy who tore the Uchiha apart day after day in middle school.

When Naruto was positive if something didn't happen or if Sasuke wouldn't say anything soon, he was sure to lose it and hit him again, Neji stepped in and grabbed his wrist in a death grip. "Let go or you will regret it." A little reluctantly he let go of the other's shirt collar, his anger slowly ebbing away. He looked remorsefully at the Uchiha who only looked away and stood up. Without a word, Sasuke tenderly rubbed his swelling cheek and started to walk off in the opposite direction with Neji following.

Unsure of where to go since he suddenly had no reason to be there. After a few minutes of just idling around, he decided to start walking to Iruka's house. He was finally in the neighborhood when a girl's voice started yelling his name. When he found the owner of the loud voice, it was a tall girl dressed in loose jeans and a t-shirt with short pink hair. "Hey, Naruto! You're back!" Sakura shouted.

Happy to see a familiar face, Naruto walked over to her and smiled weakly. "Hey, how've you been Sakura?"

"Good. Why don't you come in for a little? We can catch up!" Sakura offered. Not sure of what else he should do, Naruto allowed himself to be led into the living room of the Harunos. "Did you see Sasuke yet? I'm sure he'll be super excited to see you, he's waited for like…ever, y'know?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously, "Uh, yeah…It didn't go very well, though." Sakura just looked at him questioningly; he sighed and proceeded to retell the story. "I can't believe he's with him…What?" The pink haired girl was staring at him as if he was a complete stranger.

She shook her head and smiled calmly, "Oh, it's nothing. Just, you've changed a whole lot, Naruto. I don't know, maybe it's because you're not as…uh ignorant as you used to be." She laughed at the indignant expression placed on the boy's face. "But, really, I think Sasuke really missed you."

Naruto snorted and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, well…I seriously doubt that. I waited so long and now he's with that guy. I knew Sasuke could be an ass sometimes but-"

"Naruto! You've both waited for each other long enough, but honestly how easy for him do you think it is? You stopped writing to him and then it seemed like your existence stopped completely..." Sakura interrupted, her voice getting sharper.

The anger from once before started seeping into Naruto again, he found himself clenching his fists. "So? I _trusted_ him. Why couldn't he trust me back? It's not my fault I was working so hard every single day that I could hardly find the time to even eat! Now he's with someone else! What am I back here for then?!" The last words were choked, tears flowing down his face.

There was a moment of silence in the room before Sakura firmly gripped the teenage boy's shoulders and forced him to look up at her. "Naruto, how easy do you think it is to find a way to trust someone after your own brother murdered your family? Before you go judging someone's actions, think about what they could have been through."

Naruto buried his face into his hands, "I know…I know that, but what about me? He may not need me, but I need _him._" Sakura sighed heftily, she let go of her grip and just sat down next to him.

"How old do you think we are?" Sakura smiled gently and leaned some of weight on her friend, "We're only around fifteen years old, Naruto. We're not evenhalfway through our potential lifespan. People these days spend too much of their lives hung up over other people. I'm tired of people moping over love when they could be living their lives happily. You might think it's hard, but it's _not_. Being heartbroken won't kill you so it's no use brooding over it. If Sasuke doesn't want you back, life goes on. Besides, because of him you've learned so much. If he's happy with Neji, let him be. However, I think you'll see that he's been secretly waiting for you for the past two years."

Naruto wiped his leftover tears on his sleeve, feeling a lot lighter after the lecture. He laughed quietly and gently punched his friend, "Thanks…_mom._"

Sasuke walked into the Inuzuka household, strangely enough there was nobody home. The hairs on the back of his neck stood stiff as if telling him to leave the house. Curiously, he quietly walked the way upstairs to his room. When he opened the door, he realized that the house had visitors. "Nice to see you again, Sasuke." A male voice called out from the corner of his dully lit room. "I hope you remember us."

There were three boys and a girl. The one boy who sat on his bed casually had silver hair down to his chin, there was a boy twice the size of all of the occupants of the room with short spiked reddish hair who had to stand looming over in a corner, and the last boy stood leaning against the wall facing his bed. The girl was lounging on his computer chair her dark pink hair passing her mid back. All four of them wore expensive suits.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sasuke asked roughly, his cheek sore and starting to swell form the hit he took earlier on.

"We're here to make a deal with you."

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**A/N: I hope you liked it! Bumbumbummm, the Sound Four has entered the story, my least favorite people in Naruto well one of them. I think this chapter was the hardest. I kept adding like pointless stuff to it, and then I'd get writers block!**

**A special thanks to all my reviewers! I appreciate anyone's comments/criticisms/suggestions and I'll reply to all of them! If I forgot to reply and you want one, let me know. But I think I replied to everyone's….**

**Thanks!**


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